Presentations

In this presentation, EDDS addresses the state of cybersecurity in K-12 digitalised education and propose that to improve cybersecurity in education at least three objectives should be satisfied:

1. While making efforts to bring resilient end-users with appropriate skills and knowledge around cybersecurity, is a good idea, the effectiveness of any such efforts should be measured.

2. Government intervention for adequate measures of oversight is highly needed to ensure that minimum standards are met by the EdTech sector

3. There is no specific cybersecurity standard for the EdTech sector that meets the privacy requirements of K-12 education. Existing frameworks (e.g., CyberEssentials, ISO27001/2, NIST CSF) are too narrow or too broad to address the education sector needs. EdTech start-ups and early-stage companies often don’t have the resources to meet appropriate standards. A comprehensive framework or standard should be designed.

EdTech become a powerful decision-maker in education. Their powers and motivation in education should be questioned, made transparent, and their actions - monitored. In this presentation, EDDS proposes several concrete steps in which appropriate monitoring can be achieved in order to protect children's privacy, defend their rights, and prioritise their needs and benefits. 

In the absence of regulation and oversight, EdTech make 3 claims in education:

1. the privilege to mediate people, places, and processes

2. education through their own grammars of action

3. power through their own vertical social contracts

EdTechs' (and Big Tech's) power therefore is becoming not only pedagogic, but also regulatory and normative. Yet, they don’t have individual responsibility for students or for teachers. If a student fails an exam, the EdTech product isn’t chased to explain why, or be fired. Therefore, are our present laws addressing the hidden vertical structures (Shadmy 2019) of EdTechs?